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Tribal advocates keep up legal pressure for fair political maps; 12-member jury sworn in for Trump's historic criminal trial; the importance of healthcare decision planning; and a debt dilemma: poll shows how many people wrestle with college costs.

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Civil rights activists say a court ruling could end the right to protest in three southern states, a federal judge lets January 6th lawsuits proceed against former President Trump, and police arrest dozens at a Columbia University Gaza protest.

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Rural Wyoming needs more vocational teachers to sustain its workforce pipeline, Ohio environmental advocates fear harm from a proposal to open 40-thousand forest acres to fracking and rural communities build bike trail systems to promote nature, boost the economy.

A New Approach for Saving NW Salmon?

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Thursday, December 13, 2012   

SEATTLE - The federal agency in charge of making plans for salmon recovery in the Pacific Northwest is reaching out to a couple hundred people, businesses and associations, in what could signal a more collaborative approach to saving the endangered fish.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has named two neutral, university-based groups to interview and assess all sides' views in the salmon debate. The move is widely seen as a positive alternative to many years of court showdowns about saving salmon versus generating hydroelectric power.

Whitman County wheat farmer Bryan Jones says fishermen and power companies aren’t the only ones interested in this process.

"I feel as if I'm one of those stakeholders, being a farmer who ships grain down the river. If a group of stakeholders is going to sit down, agriculture needs to be included in that. I know it's important that farmers of Whitman County get a voice."

Conservation groups have long said they believe roundtable discussions would make headway for salmon recovery, and have released statements saying they hope this process is a start. The report, called a “Situation Assessment,” should be ready in the summer.

The new approach doesn't change the fact that a federal judge in Portland, Ore., threw out the feds' most recent salmon-recovery plan, known as a Biological Opinion. It was the third in a row considered inadequate, and the deadline for a new plan is in 2014.

Marc Kraznowsky, communications director for the Northwest Energy Coalition, says he hopes the two efforts go hand in hand.

"It involves many of the same players, so hopefully there'll be some crossover. It's important to make that tie - that regardless of how this collaboration goes forward, the salmon have to survive that process."

Preseason estimates released last week forecast that the adult upriver spring chinook runs could be the smallest in five years.



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